Slight change in plans
by stocky-parker-dog
Summary: I finished this one really quickly. This one is for AdorableSkitty who asked me to do this. Contestshipping twist taken from the Pokemon episode 'The unbeatable lightness of seeing'. Oneshot. I do NOT own the characters or the episode. Read, Enjoy and Review please.


May's POV

I sighed, sitting on the edge of the stage. I was thinking about my loss at the Grand Festival. Ash's recent loss had reminded me of what it was like to lose something that big and important. I wondered if Drew was feeling this way too. Nah, Drew always bounced back.

'Nya'

'Beautifly' My Pokémon called me. I looked at them.

"You're right," I sighed, "we should practise." I didn't really feel like it, but I suppose they deserved it. I stood up.

"I think we should practise our combinations first," I pondered, making my voice sound enthusiastic just for them.

"Skitty! Use Blizzard!" I commanded, "And you use psychic Beautifly!" They did what I said. I frowned. I didn't feel so into it. My mind kept drifting.

"It's Beautifly and Skitty!" Max called, running up to me. I turned to look at him. Ash was panting next to him.

"Been a long time," Ash commented. Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and my two Pokémon started playing with him.

"Yeah, I know. Mum told me Beautifly had just learned psychic," I told him, pretending to be excited. I was thinking I should actually quit contests and go back home. Mum could teach me all the housework stuff. I guess I was doomed to just be a wife anyway so I may as well be a good one.

"That's good for Beautifly," Ash said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"That's gotta make you happy," my brother said enthusiastically. I smiled a little. Max had been trying to cheer me up for a while now. I don't think he like seeing me so down.

"It does Max," I lied, "but my combination's just not working that well. So Ash how's your training?" Ash looked down.

"It's not going so good," he admitted, "I just can't figure out what to do." I gave him a sad sympathetic smile. I knew what that was like.

"I got it!" Max exclaimed, "Sounds like you both need someone to work with, so why don't you train with May, and she'll train with you!"

"Me? Battle with Ash?" I squealed.

"Hey, that's not such a bad idea," Ash pondered.

"No way!" I exclaimed. Ash looked up at me in shock, hurt flashing in his eyes.

"What I'm trying to say," I continued in a whisper, "Is I'm not strong like you are." I turned away.

"Aww May," he started but was cut off by someone calling his name. I looked up.

"Professor Oak!" Ash shouted, "What are you here for?"

* * *

I waited next to Ash as he talked to the professor. Apparent Professor Oak was famous and everyone kept taking his photo as they crowded around him. I looked at the ground as he unrolled a large piece of paper. It said 'fight!' in large black letters and colourful Pokémon prints were stamped all over it.

"Look what they did!" Ash exclaimed, "It's got everyone's prints." I sighed. I wished that I had someone to encourage me that way. Max meant well, but he only seemed to see my being sad. No-one saw what I was really thinking. Truth was I had a tough decision. Go back home, or stay. Going back home would mean the end of my journey. It meant I would be prepared for marriage, but if I stayed…I wasn't any good at battles or anything, but it meant I could see Drew at least. I had become rather fond of the boy ever since our time together on Mirage Island. I was trying my hardest to resist the crush I had on him. Rivals didn't fall for each other…Or were we more than that now?

"Wait who made that one?" Max asked, pointing to a yellow one and snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I know!" I answered, "It's Bulbasaur's vine whip." I thought again of my loss. Maybe I was over-reacting a little. I didn't realize I was spacing out again until Professor Oak reached into his pocket and took out something small. He handed it to Ash.

"Hey look Pikachu," He said, holding it up, "Misty's lure." I looked at it. So that was the Misty he always talked about.

"I'll have to give her a call later," he mumbled.

"Ash, you call her every day, I'm sure today won't be any different," Brock laughed. I giggled when I saw Ash's face go red. Ash cradled the lure in his palm.

"But this is special," he sighed, "this was how we met."

"Yes, you've told us before how she fished you out of the water," I sighed, rolling my eyes, "you then proceeded to toast her bike, same thing you did to me."

"It wasn't my fault!" Ash exclaimed in defence.

"Chill," I sighed, "It's just a bike. I'm kinda glad. I got to meet you and travel with you."

"Yeah…" Ash trailed off, looking at the lure.

"Oh yeah I almost forgot," Professor Oak said, "Here's something from Gary." He took out a postcard.

"Who's Gary?" Max asked.

"Gary used to be my rival," Ash laughed, "I've had several rivals." I thought of Drew. He was my rival, but was he something more? Maybe a friend now? I hoped so.

'Roselia!' It snapped me back and I looked down to see a Roselia.

"Roselia!" Max exclaimed, "That's Drew's isn't it?" I smiled at it, something fluttering in my chest. I knelt down beside it.

"But you can't be here alone," I said hopefully. I saw a pair of black shoes stop in front of me.

"Right," he said, "Imagine running into you guys here." I looked up.

"Drew!" I exclaimed, getting up. My heart started beating faster as I looked into his eyes. Nurse Joy jumped in-between us before I could say anything else.

"Please give me your autograph," she begged.

"Um…No," He said, looking to the side. I smiled. He was still refusing to give out his signature. Nurse Joy dejectedly walked away, an eager Brock following her.

"Um…I'm going to go train," Ash said, scurrying off.

"Wait for me!" Max shouted, "I'm coming too." He scrambled after Ash's retreating figure. I tilted my head in confusion. What had made them leave so quickly?

"Well, I guess you'll have to stick around with me then," he said, "C'mon." I eagerly followed.

* * *

Drew's POV

I knelt down, attending to Roselia as May curled up by the edge of the stage, hugging her knees close. I wanted to say something to her, but I couldn't find the right words.

"You know, you really gave me a shock back there," she said, breaking the silence, "See I was just thinking about you when, all of a sudden, there you were." My heart leapt skipped a beat. She'd been thinking of me.

"Were they good thoughts?" I asked nervously, turning towards her. I hadn't exactly made the best first impression on her.

"C'mon, of course they were," she exclaimed, turning to me and waving her hands about. Why was she blushing like that?

"We had just been talking about rivals," she continued, "so of course naturally I started thinking about you." I sighed in relief. I thought she might have hated me. I thought I might have messed up any chance of there being an 'us' until we got stuck on Mirage Island together. It made me realize just how much she cared. Made me realize just how much **_I_** cared.

"Well, I'm honoured," I said, "So how've you been doing after the loss." I knew she took them harder than me. She actually looked really distracted now.

"Alright, I guess," She whispered quietly, "I don't know if I'm cut out for this. I'm thinking that I should give up and go home."

"What!" I exclaimed. May couldn't just leave. I only got to see her at contests. This time with her now was a rare treat.

"I just think that it might be better," she sighed, "I know I'll have to get married and right now, I don't know the first thing about being a good wife. If I go home, my mum will start teaching me and then, by the time I'm eighteen, I'll be a great wife and someone will actually want to marry me. My happily ever after." She didn't sound happy at all.

"May," I said quietly, "You shouldn't just give up. You're too young to think about getting married, that's 7 years away and I'm sure by then you'd have picked up a couple of skills on your travels. Don't give up May."

"Drew, I don't know if you understand," she whispered, "Guys only want girls who are either attractive or amazing house workers. I'm neither of those at the moment and I don't have looks to rely on. All I can do is train and hope that I can be a good wife so I can find a decent guy." That's what she was so worked up about? I turned to her to see tears in her big blue eyes. I moved closer and put an arm over her shoulder. She started to cry.

"May don't cry," I soothed, "It'll work out ok. You'll see. And just so you know, guys actually don't just go for looks and amazing workers. Most of the time guys go for the girl with the right personality, so it's the personality that matters. If they find someone with the right personality, everything about that girl becomes beautiful. So don't worry about it May. Someone will find you just right the way you are. I for one, think you're very pretty if that's what you're worried about. Just promise, whatever you do that you won't lose sight of that. I don't think you should quit contests either. You'll find one day, you'll regret it and if I didn't try to convince you to stay, I would regret it too." She sniffed and rubbed her nose.

"Thanks Drew," she said, pushing away from me again. I smiled at her and went back to Roselia, who was getting rather impatient at the lack of attention.

"So how have you been doing after your loss Drew?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Guess I've been doing what any coordinator does," I answered, handing Roselia a couple of Pokéblock, "after a loss I mean. They make sure all their Pokémon are well taken care of."

"Hopefully with a new friend," I added, looking at her.

"New friend?" she pondered. She was dense. She didn't get what I was hinting at. Oh well, better luck next time.

"You're still holding onto your loss to Solidad aren't you?" I inquired, she looked up in shock, "that means you discovered your weak point, but now I bet you're not too sure about what you can do to overcome it. Tell the truth, am I close?" I looked at her. She turned away and nodded slightly. Oh boy, she was really in a rut and I needed to get her out of it. I hated to see her so upset.

"Ok," I said, standing up, "I think we should have a battle." That would be a good way to get her mind off everything. She looked up at me in shock.

"Drew what for?" she asked.

"I dunno," I shrugged, "it's just since we've got this great stage and everything. I think after the Grand Festival it would clear the air."

"You think? Maybe…" she trailed off quietly.

"May look at me," I commanded, "and try to tell me you don't want to battle me." The best way to get May to do something is to challenge her and it almost always worked. She stared into my eyes and I stared back, counting just how many shades of blue were in her eyes.

"Ok," she agreed, getting up, "I'm not going easy on you."

"Now there's a surprise," I said teasingly.

"I'll go get Nurse Joy to be a judge!" Max exclaimed and I jumped. I looked down and saw that May's friends had gathered by the stage. How long had they been there? How much had they heard? I blushed slightly. I saw three other figures.

"It's ok, we're here," they said.

"Mr Contesta?" Ash questioned.

"Mr Sukizo?" Max inquired.

"Nurse Joy? Is that you?" Brock asked. I rolled my eyes. How silly could these guys get?

"There's something not quite right about this," May whispered to me.

"That's because-" I was cut off by the sound of someone ordering a bullet seed attack. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harley's Cacturne. I pulled May out of the way of the attack. The attack hit the three imposters to reveal, what I knew all along, Team Rocket.

"Team Rocket!" Ash yelled, sounding astonished. Could he really not tell when they were in disguise? I mean come on, the 'Nurse Joy's' mouth didn't even move when Jessie talked. Harley walked up to them and angrily slammed his fists on the bench.

"I told you the only one who messes with the squirt is me!" he yelled.

"We forgot!" Team Rocket exclaimed, backing away.

"Why are you here Harley?" May asked. I scowled at the purple-haired man as he turned to May.

"To make you cry hon," he answered, "but I don't need any help from them." I scowled at him again. Team Rocket tried to run, but were soon stopped by Harley's Cacturne.

"Alrighty then," Harley said, facing us, "for today we'll just assume the role of the cheering throng." I growled lowly, putting an arm over May's shoulder protectively.

"I don't buy that!" Max exclaimed, "How do I know you're not here to mess everything up for May."

"Please, let's just do this," May begged, "no fighting ok?"

* * *

May's POV

"Is everybody ready?" Nurse Joy yelled.

"Wow!" I exclaimed, looking at the cheering crowd, "I can't believe how many people showed up."

"The better to give a great performance," Drew said.

"We're having a double battle, same as the Grand Festival!" Nurse Joy yelled, "Coordinators, ready to go."

"Beautifly and Combusken take the stage," I yelled, throwing my Pokéballs out.

"Roselia, Butterfree, let's go," Drew yelled, doing the same.

"Five minutes on the clock so let's get busy!" Nurse Joy yelled.

"Combusken, fire spin, let's go," I commanded, "Beautifly, you use psychic now."

"As May starts off with a blazing attack," Nurse Joy said, "a positively potent combination of fire spin and psychic."

"Roselia, petal dance," Drew yelled.

"Amazing!" Nurse Joy exclaimed, "That fire spin was just pulverized by Roselia's petal dance.

"Beautifly use that fire to attack once more," I instructed. Beautifly controlled to fire and sent it towards Drew's Pokémon.

"Quick thinking by May," Nurse Joy commented, "She's using the pulverized fire to launch yet another fierce attack."

"Magical leaf!" Drew called. The leaves caught all the fire and then floated in the air.

*Skip battle*

I lost again, but somehow, I didn't feel it so much. Maybe it was because it was Drew I was facing, or because of our talk before, I don't know. All I know, is I felt a lot better, even if I lost. I knelt down by my Pokémon and gently pushed them back up.

"You two were awesome," I told them. They both protested sadly to me.

"You're great," I encouraged, "I see things differently now. Thanks to you…and thank to Drew." I looked up at him as he bowed to the cheering audience and my heart fluttered. I'd made up my mind about what I was going to do.

* * *

"I thought that I'd caught up to you," I said, "but you pulled away again." We were watching the sunset, Drew and I. He leaned on the fence, while I was sitting just in front.

"Well, you gotta keep moving I guess," he said.

"Know what?" I asked, looking at him.

"What?"

"I think I was getting a little overconfident," I admitted, "Which I'm realizing is no way for a top coordinator to be, that's for sure. This battle made me realize a lot of things. Remember when you told me that you need to find a battling style that was yours and only yours? Well, I want to find my own style too and learn how to show off my Pokémon a lot better than I do now. All my own, like no-one else." I looked at him. He was smiled slightly as he looked back at me.

"Sounds good," he said, breaking his gaze away. I stood up and leaned against the other side of the fence.

"Where are you going to go now?" I asked. I think Ash and the rest of my friends were heading to Sinnoh.

"To the Johto region," he answered, "to enter some contests."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I think Solidad's gonna be there too," he said. He sounded excited to see her and I crumbled a little.

"It's pretty there right now," I commented.

"May…" he trailed off, looking at me intently. I locked eye contact with him. He moved a little closer and I copied his movement. Was he going to do what I thought he was? My heart sped up as he slowly leaned a little bit more.

"How touching," Harley said, coming between us. We sprang apart like springs bouncing off each other. I blushed while Drew just glared.

"It's Harley," I squeaked, unable to say anything else.

"It's dangerous," he sang looking between us, "Two kids alone like this, especially at such a romantic scene like this."

"Oh c'mon!" I protested, blushing and shaking my hands out in front of me, "we were just talking. Really."

"Joke!" Harley exclaimed, though his suggestive look didn't leave his face, "I was just pulling your legs. And this is a coinky-dink since I'm going to Johto as well."

"How nice," I said.

"And the next Grand Festival trophy will have my name on it," he said, then he turned to the three team Rocket members, "Aren't you going too girlfriend?" James glared and put him arm around Jessie tightly. I got the feeling there was something more to the two human members than meets the eye.

"No way!" she exclaimed quickly, "I'm too busy after all, team Rocket calls." James sighed in relief, but didn't stop glaring at Harley.

"What!" Harley yelled, "Do you always want to be a loser? You need to break out of that rut Honey."

"Excuse me!" she cried indignantly, "but I like my rut. I'll show you a loser." She reached around for her Pokémon ball.

"You snooze, you lose," Harley said, taking out his Pokéball, "Cacturne, bullet seed!"

"Hold on," Jessie shrieked, "I'm not armed!" Cacturne released his attack and team Rocket was sent blasting off.

"We're blasting off again!" they cried.

"Got it!" I faintly heard Jessie exclaim. Harley recalled his Pokémon.

"Well that was hardly worth the effort," Harley mused, "Not why don't we all go to Johto together like the happy family we are."

"No thanks Harley," I said.

"Then last one there's a little wimp. And it won't be me!" he shouted, running away.

"I've got another one of my Harley headaches now," I moaned. Drew reached over and I felt his lips gently press against my forehead. I gasped.

"Better now?" he asked. I nodded slowly. It was quiet again; the only sound disturbing it was our breathing. I was still rattled over what Drew had just done. He kissed my head! He had **kissed** it! Wow!

* * *

"So then, just talking huh?" he said eventually breaking the silence that hung between us.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You told Harley that we were just talking," he shrugged, "I guess you didn't notice me doing this." He shifted himself closer again.

"Or this," he continued, leaning a little bit closer. I froze.

"Or this," he whispered, putting one hand on my cheek and the other around my waist. He leaned in so close I could feel his breath gently brushing against my face. I trembled in anticipation.

"Oh well," he said, letting me go and moving away.

"Drew!" I exclaimed.

"Hey, I'm going to Johto now," he said, "if you want the rest of that, you'll have to follow me. Anyway I have to go now. Bye May." He started walking away.

"Hey May!" Ash yelled, "We came here as soon as we heard an explosion." I watched Drew leaving, pondering what he said.

"May, are you ok?" Max asked.

"I'm going to Johto," I sighed dreamily.

"What!" Max exclaimed, "Where did that idea come from! I thought we were headed to Sinnoh."

"I didn't say we, I said me," I said, "you guy go on to Sinnoh. I'm going to compete in the Johto contests." I started to walk forwards, my feet automatically carrying me.

"But May, what about me?" Max asked.

"Do whatever you want!" I called to him, "you'll be old enough to start your own journey next year. You don't need me to look after you." They nodded and I waved goodbye to them, running in the direction Drew had gone.

* * *

Drew's POV

"Drew!" I heard May yell," Drew! Wait for me!" I turned and smiled as I saw her running towards me. I had wondered if leaving her like that had been a good idea, but I wanted her to come compete in the contests with me. I had to give her a reason to follow me.

"May! Couldn't you go without me for five minutes," I teased. She shook her head and ran straight into me, knocking me over. She landed on top of me and I blushed.

"I want the rest," she panted, her hot breath traveling over my face.

"I said you'd get it if you followed me to Johto," I reminded her.

"I am," she said calmly, "why else do you think I came after you. I want to travel with you around Johto while Max, Brock and Ash go to Sinnoh." I blinked.

"I guess that would be ok," I said.

"I believe you owe me this," she whispered. She pushed her lips over mine and my eyes widened in shock. I had no idea May could be so bold. I wasn't complaining though. Her lips were soft and smooth...She pulled away too quickly. She got up and brushed the dirt off her top. I stood up, still in a daze. She was blushed now.

"May," I growled lowly, putting an arm around her, "I believe I was the one who was supposed to initiate that."

"I-I-I d-don't k-k-kn-" she stuttered. Her face could have outdone any tomato at this point.

"Guess I'll just have to give you another one," I whispered huskily. I tilted her head up and pressed a gentle kiss against her temple before capturing her lips with mine again.

"C'mon then May," I said, tapping her nose gently when I moved away again, "we should get going.

"Wait!" she called, "isn't there something you want to ask me first?"

"Like what?" I asked, smirking. I knew exactly what she meant.

"Well, like aren't you going to ask me to be your girlfriend?" she asked, blushing.

"I don't need to," I shrugged, "I've claimed you as mine already."

"What!" she spluttered.

"I believe my actions spoke louder than words would any day," I told her, throwing a sly look at her, "though I don't think I got an answer." She tilted her head and I waited for her to process it.

"Yes!" she yelled, throwing her arms around my neck, "yes a million times!"

"Well, like I said, we should get going," I chuckled. I unravelled her arms from my neck and held one hand in mine as we walked together towards the ferry that would take us to a new region.

* * *

**A/N: Remember if you have another idea you would like me to do, leave the episode name and the likely shipping in either the reviews or send it to me in a PM. I'll do my best to make and interesting twist on each one.**


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